PC Beach Seafari: Step aboard for hands-on adventure

JAN WADDY | PanamaCity.com

Friday

Jul 19, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 19, 2013 at 9:32 AM

PANAMA CITY BEACH — I felt the cool seabreeze Saturday morning while sitting on the covered open air deck of the Capt. Anderson III, and the brave held out their hands as seagulls swooped down to grab Cheetos.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — I felt the cool seabreeze Saturday morning while sitting on the covered open air deck of the Capt. Anderson III, and the brave held out their hands as seagulls swooped down to grab Cheetos.

“The Seafari cruise covers a lot of water in a short time and passes a lot of local history, from the time we leave our docks at historical Capt. Anderson’s Marina to the ‘skid’ past the 1,600 square acres of beautiful St. Andrews State Park,” said Capt. Ron, who has been a commercial diver and dive instructor for more than 27 years. “The park actually started as a military installation back during WWII. You only need to visit the gazebo that overlooks the kiddy pool as well as the gulf to see that the foundation is actually a gun turret from that era.”

The boat then made its way into St. Andrew Bay, discovered by the Spanish in the early 1500s on the calendar day that is named for the patron Saint Andrew. We stopped in “21 foot of water” in the Bay, just north of Shell Island to drag the trawl net.

“We have a 12-foot shrimp net,” said Capt. Ron, who explained it is tapered like a “big funnel.” “We are allowed to drag for 25 minutes through the bay, but I usually drag 15 to 18 minutes.”

Jet skis raced by while we watched sailboats in the distance. Capt. Ron talked about native sea life and historical landmarks. He shared seafaring adventures of hammerhead sharks and pointed out a family of nesting ospreys.

“We catch a little bit of everything in here. We never know what we’re going to catch, which is what makes it exciting for you and for us,” said Capt. Ron, who has caught seahorses, stingrays, puffer fish, shrimp, flounder and crabs. “The only thing we don’t throw back is the shrimp and that’s used for research on the best preparation. Sometimes we catch shells and divide them up if nothing is live inside.”

As the net was pulled back up, we walked down to the enclosed air-conditioned lower deck, where the glass bottom portion of the main deck has been transformed into a built-in 1,000 gallon Sea Life Viewing Well. The main deck also includes a snack bar and restrooms.

Capt. Ron’s wife, Angel, put on her gloves and showed off a puffer fish and its teeth. The catch also included a crab, stingray, flounder and horseshoe crab, which she held as children touched its shell.

St.Andrew Bayalso is home to a large population of Bottlenose Dolphins, which Capt. Ron set out to find. But it seemed the Bottlenose Dolphins were looking for us, circling the boat, flipping and swimming in pairs.

We watched families walking along the water on Shell Island, a barrier island sitting at the mouth of St. Andrew Bay. The 7.5-mile-long and half-mile wide stretch of sand was home to a large Spanish settlement known as Spanish Shanty Lagoon.

A highlight for many of the children, including my 6-year-old son, was being allowed to take a seat behind the wheel and “steer” the boat next to Capt. Ron, a father of four.

We arrived back on land to find family pictures, which had been taken of each group on the deck of the Capt. Anderson III at the beginning of the trip, matted and ready to purchase at Capt. Anderson’s Marina, which celebrates its 56th anniversary this year.

The Capt. Anderson III also takes guests on a three-hour tour from 2-5 p.m. daily, which includes a one-hour stop at Shell Island for shell searching or swimming, while the sunset cruise Dolphin Encounter is from 5:30-6:45 p.m. daily. Other excursions from the marina include Shell IslandExpress Ferries,dinner cruises aboard theLady Anderson Dining Yacht, deep sea fishing for 5 to 13 hours and private charter boat trips.

Chef of the Sea

Capt. Ron Spriggs of Capt. Anderson’s Marina has spent the majority of his professional dive experience in South Florida, the Caribbean and South America, where he picked up many wonderful recipes.Capt. Ron will share tales of the sea as well as his seafood ceviche from 6 to 7 p.m. July 30 during Celebrate Summer Raw, wrapping up the free summer cooking series at the Bay County Public Library. Reservations or details: bmead@baycountyfl.gov or (850) 522-2120